The invention relates to a radiation diagnostic device for generating tomographic images of an exposure subject with a positioning table or patient support, with a measuring arrangement for irradiation of the exposure subject from various directions comprising a radiation source which emits radiation beams penetrating the layer to be investigated, the dimension of said radiation beams perpendicular to the layer plane being equal to the thickness of the layer, and a radiation receiver which supplies electrical output signals according to the measured radiation intensity, and with a computer connected to the radiation receiver for the calculation of the attenuation values of specific image points of the irradiated body layer from the output signals of the radiation receiver.
Radiation diagnostic devices of this type, so-called computer tomographs, are known in which the measuring arrangement is rotatable about an axis which lies in the longitudinal direction of the positioning table or patient support. In such apparatus, the x-ray source generates a fan-shaped x-ray beam which is received by a series of detectors which form the radiation receiver. If the measuring arrangement, whose x-ray source lies on the one side and whose radiation receiver lies on the other side of the positioning table is rotated around the exposure subject lying on the positioning table, then it is possible to calculate and visually reproduce the attenuation values of predetermined points of the layer of the exposure subject to be examined from output signals of the radiation receiver thereby generated. With the known radiation diagnostic devices of the type initially cited, because of the position of the rotational axis of the measuring arrangement, it is only possible to generate tomographic images of layers of the exposure subject which lie transverse to the longitudinal axis of the exposure subject and transverse to the longitudinal direction of the positioning table.